Tintin and The Rest of His Life
by Whackedgourd
Summary: Riding on trains, pretty girls, embarassing conversations. This story has everything guaranteed to make a fanboy squeal.Though hopefully, not really. Abandoned.
1. Waiting

I admit I don't know much about Chinese tradition or customs. I'm going by what I learned from Mulan and various documentaries on NatGeo TV. I don't own Tintin, just my . If you spot a glaring mistake, please let me know, either in a review or a pm. Also Geography may be a bit sketchy. The 1940s' aren't great with air and sea travel.

Tintin and the Rest of His Life

Shanghai, China, nineteen forty seven. Two men, and a dog, sit in a train station, waiting for the train to Hong Kong. It was late, as is the nature of anything being waited on.

"Blistering, gad blasted, blowfish!" cursed the older man as he checked his watch yet again. "Why is it that we are always waiting for a train?" he groaned, leaning back on the bench and slumping sullenly. His companion was at a small gift shop not twenty feet away.

"It will come, Captain. It always does. Now, would the Professor prefer a map of China or a book on the history of the various royal families through out the past three thousand years?" asked the younger man brightly, holding up the two afore mentioned items. He would do his best to keep the Captain from getting into one of his famous grumps.

"Tintin, the professor would take the book over anything else. If only to make visitors wonder why such a book is in the library." Captain Haddock said wryly. "He may love calculations, but reading is a close second."

Tintin shrugged and paid for the book, tactic successful. Tintin looked up almost twenty minutes later to see, and hear, the train arriving.

"Finally. I can't wait to get to Hong Kong. From there, we take a ship…" Haddock began enthusiastically.

"It's called a cruise ship. And it will take us to Milan. We'll fly from there to Paris and then home to Brussels." Tintin said, knowing this speech all too well.

They had been with a tour group from America. A bunch of newlyweds and older couples, looking to restart their travels since the war had ended. All of them were idle rich and it had irritated both Tintin and Haddock to no end that these people couldn't or wouldn't believe that the smaller cities and towns of China didn't cater to tourists.

They expected to be pampered and waited on by the townsfolk and were outraged in a sophisticated way that their money didn't have an effect on the way they were provided for.

It was this belief that got the group in trouble. One young American, an heir to an oil company, tried bribing the wrong kind of person in Beijing. They still hadn't found his young wife's' ruby necklace or her entire travel wardrobe. The young man himself had been traumatized so badly, that he had sworn off travelling anywhere outside the United States.

Tintin had found a smuggling ring in Beijing, thanks to the young couple, and had been instrumental in helping to disband it there. He was quite certain that the ring extended further than just one city. One of the men he had helped put in jail had sworn to kill Tintin. The hatred and conviction in the criminals' voice had sent a tiny tendril of fear down Tintin's back. Captain Haddock had waited till the police officer had turned away, before he knocked the man unconscious.

Tintin dozed on the train, as Haddock slept loudly. They were getting odd looks from the Chinese occupants, all who were very reserved and carefully avoiding contact with each other. Not one of them were sleeping. Well, if you don't count infants and children and the very elderly.

The ride to Hong Kong was long and could've been boring, if Haddock had not woken up and promptly spotted the only pretty, young woman on the train who would talk to him and spoke English quite well. They were now talking about typhoons and hurricanes and how one became the other under certain circumstances.

"Tintin, this is Gong, Yin Tai. Did I say it right? Yes, she is attending college in Hong Kong. Yin Tai this is my young friend, Tintin. He's a journalist and we are both adventurers. Just came from Beijing after breaking up a criminal theft ring there." Captain Haddock said grandly.

"How wonderful. Crime has been on the rise since the war. Gangs on the streets, corporate espionage in the businesses, spies and double agents in the government. It makes me too scared to sleep at night, for fear that I will somehow become a target of someone trying to bring about my fathers' dishonour and ruin his business." said Yin Tai quietly, folding hers hands to keep from fidgeting nervously.

"What does your father do?" Tintin asked. "If it's enough to send you to college, it could mean he may be on someone's radar. But not necessarily a criminals."

"My father owns a trading business. It operates all over the Orient. He sends goods to India and as far north as Russia." Yin Tai said proudly. "I was once almost kidnapped when I was a child. My father saved me, but my mother wasn't so lucky."

"Our condolences Yin Tai." said Captain Haddock.

"Thank you. I was an infant when she passed away. I do not know what I have lost as I have not had it. You need not feel sorry for me."


	2. Talking

Chapter Two: Talking

The rest of the train ride was spent talking about the tourist attractions in Hong Kong and how tourism ate away at traditional sites. Yin Tai didn't seem to mind much. She had admitted to wanting to travel, rather than finish college, like her father wanted.

"But since he indulged my first wish, asking for the second would be greedy of me. He has already spent so much on my education." Yin Tai said humbly.

"How long until you finish school?" Tintin asked.

"Two more years and then I'll be allowed to work in any business as a secretary." Yin Tai said, trying to sound proud. "It was the only thing I was allowed to declare as my major. I did study art, history, and several other subjects that I will receive degrees for."

"Is that what your father wanted?" Captain Haddock asked.

"No, he wanted me to get married and give him grandchildren when I turned twenty." Yin Tai said dryly. "I was lucky; most girls don't get a choice in that. But now that the war is over and China came out rather well, considering everything, we are able to loosen some traditional demands."

"What traditions were loosened?" asked Tintin, thinking he should call Chang at some point to get his opinion on the matter.

"Girls being considered less useful than boys. Some old fashioned people still believe that the only way a woman can bring her family honour, is to marry well and have sons instead of daughters." Yin Tai said. "Though nowadays, girls are able to do more than look pretty and have kids." she grinned at Tintin and Captain Haddock.

Something about her smile rang a bell in Tintins' head. That was a grin a criminal had, just before he got away with stealing something immensely valuable, like the Hope Diamond in the Louvre. Tintin willed that thought away. He always believed the best of people, or at least, gave them the benefit of the doubt. Haddock, however, didn't seem to notice Yin Tais' smile as almost predatory. He kept mooning like a struck fish. Tintin chuckled at that thought.

"What are you laughing at, Tintin?" Haddock asked, nothing about baroque art was funny.

"Ah, just thinking about something…Snowy had done to those criminals in Beijing. Nothing important, Captain." Tintin said. He wasn't truly lying. Snowy had wet on one of the men, in a way that seemed almost deliberate.

After an hour or more, the train reached Hong Kong.

"It was a right pleasure meeting you Miss Yin Tai. I hope we see you again." Haddock said, shaking Yin Tai's hand. "You know which hotel we'll be staying at. Don't be afraid to join us for dinner any night this week."

"I shall consider it Captain." Yin Tai said demurely, back in her honourable daughter mode. "I will speak to my father; perhaps he would acquiesce to having you and Tintin to our home here in the city for dinner. That way you'll get real Chinese delicacies and not those tasteless dishes all the hotels serve."

"That does sound better than hotel food." Tintin said. "Too bad Chang doesn't live here in Hong Kong. He'd be a great tour guide." Yin Tai looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I only have a couple classes to attend this week. If you would like, I can schedule a proper tour around the city when I am not in class." she offered.

"What would you get out of the bargain?" Tintin asked.

"You'll tell me about the places you've been and the things you've done?" Yin Tai suggested innocently. Captain Haddock laughed heartily.

"Can't blame the girl for wanting to hear of our adventures, eh Tintin?" Haddock asked, still laughing. Yin Tai smiled at Tintin hopefully.

"Very well. I can't exactly refuse. A trip around Hong Kong without any excitement in the form of defying death and what not, is just what I need for a new column." Tintin said agreeably. Yin Tai bowed and went to hail a rickshaw cab.

"I'll call your hotel tonight! It won't be too late. Good bye Tintin, Captain. Take care Snowy." Yin Tai shouted, waving as the rickshaw runner left.

"That girl had a lot of luggage for a trip to Shanghai and back." Haddock mused, and then dismissed the thought. "Women just don't know the meaning of travelling light."

"Captain, you don't know the meaning of that either." Tintin pointed out with a laugh.

An hour or two later saw Tintin and Captain Haddock sitting in the lobby of their hotel, talking about where Yin Tai was going to take them. At least they were, right up until Haddock brought up an uncomfortable topic of conversation. One that everyone Tintin knew would bring up every now and again.

"So, what do you think of Miss Yin Tai, Tintin?" Haddock asked, trying not to look sly as he peeked over his newspaper at Tintin, who was turning as red as the leaves in autumn.

"I uh…She seems quite nice." Tintin said noncommittally.

"She did seem quite interested in you, once you mentioned how you helped take down that crime ring." Haddock said pointedly.

"You heard her; she likes the thought of travel and adventure. Hearing our stories was her payment for showing us around Hong Kong." Tintin said immediately.

"Who did she address most of her questions to; once it was clear you were in the conversation?" Haddock asked. "Who was she talking to more, by the time we got off the train? Who did she say good bye to first? I'm telling you, lad. The young lady isn't interested in the stories as much as she's interested in you."

Tintin turned a lovely shade of red and didn't reply for a minute, he was trying to refute the logic Haddock had just shoved at him.

"Well, Tintin? Any arguments?" Haddock asked, hoping that he had won an argument, even if it was a little petty of him.

"Captain, she's young and yearning to see the world. She would, of course, prefer the younger adventurer to tell the stories. I wouldn't embellish them to make myself sound grand. Not that you would. I'm also young; therefore, she would see me as a kindred spirit of sorts." Tintin said, satisfied at having squashed The Conversation once again.

"I could tell you what she was yearning for, but it would be a blight on her honour." Haddock muttered into his beard.

"What, Captain?" Tintin asked blankly.

"At least having her around would be much better than having Castafiore along and singing in that horrible voice of hers." Haddock said quickly. Tintin only sighed. They had known Madam Bianca Castafiore for several years and still Haddock refused to believe that what she did was real singing.

As the evening progressed, Tintin and Captain Haddock went to the restaurant in the hotel to have dinner.

"She was right, Tintin" Haddock said, looking at his meal with no little distaste. "The food even looks tasteless."

"It can't be that bad." Tintin said, then ate a bite of what he assumed was fish. "The…chicken is a little dry however." he said.

"Perhaps Yin Tai's father would put us up for the rest of the week. At least until the cruise ship leaves." Haddock said, eating his meal and trying not to taste it. It wouldn't do to go to bed hungry. Tintin ate his dinner as well, thinking he'd rather be full than hungry all day tomorrow.

"Excuse me gentlemen. There is a telephone call for Mister Tintin." said a waiter, an English waiter. Probably hired on to train the Chinese waiters.

"I'll take it in my room. Thank you for dinner, it was…an experience." Tintin said politely. The waiter smiled and nodded his head.

"An experience I don't plan on repeating." Haddock muttered, sounding little out of sorts.

"It wasn't so bad Captain. It was better than noting, you know." Tintin said.

"Not by much, Tintin." Haddock said as they headed up to their rooms. " Maybe Yin Tai is the person calling you." he said far too brightly.


End file.
